Back to School (Sniff, Sniff)

(If you’d rather listen to an audio version of this post as opposed to, you know, READING it, you may do so by clicking arrow and link at bottom of page. You’re welcome.)

So, like a lot of Colorado parents this week, I’m saying a semi-official goodbye to the summer of 2014. When you have kids, summer doesn’t end when the calendar says—it ends when your kids go back to school. And in my house, today is that day.

As parents I think we’re all supposed to be really excited when our kids start school in the fall….like “Whew…it was so exhausting having them underfoot all summer…..what a relief they’ll be occupied by someone else for 8 hours a day….”

But the truth is— that’s not at all how I’m feeling.

What I’m feeling is– wait a minute? Summer is OVER? Where did it go? Wasn’t it just May?

And more importantly—what happened to my 3 tow headed little babies?

My 14 yr old son grew 8 inches in the last year and is starting high school. At this point it appears that he plans to major in Sports and Axe Body spray.

My 11 yr old daughter is headed off to middle school and is way more concerned about finding the perfect shoes and earrings to go with her school uniform and *gasp* boys…than she is about playing with dolls.

And my 9 yr old daughter, the baby, is starting 4th grade. FOURTH! Feels like she was just in a crib yesterday and now she’s going to be asking me for help in converting fractions.

Wow.

Every year since they started kindergarten, Anne takes a picture of the kids on the first day of school, so if you go through our photo albums, you can actually mark the passage of time, year by year, in that collection of photos.

Little gap toothed kids with chubby cheeks and giant back packs….become gangly tweens and teens….with their smirky grins that say “hurry up and take the picture Mom…we gotta go!”

And it seems like no matter how hard I try to pay attention to every single moment of their lives…it inevitably slides by in gigantically huge chunks.

Days become weeks….weeks become months….months become years….and before you know it….poof…they’re all grown up.

Consciously, I’m aware that eventually my kids are going to grow up and go out on their own and make their way in the world. And I want them to do that with all the confidence and passion they can muster.

But I know that when my wife sends me that picture this morning….I’m going to get all choked up….again…..just like I do every year……and I’m going to wish that it wasn’t the first day of school already…..and like all parents do at some point or another…I’m going to wish that I could freeze time…..stop in its tracks….and keep my kids just exactly as they are….for just one….more…..moment….

(Audio version of post below from the Mike Casey Radio Get Together on 99.5 The Mountain 8–16-14: Just click arrow to listen)

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